BackerKit's quest for investment and the future of crowdfunding
And how their lead investor worked for DOGE.
About a month ago, users of the crowdfunding platform, BackerKit, received an email about an opportunity to invest in the company. Most didn’t know what to make of it. Some thought it was a scam and moved on. But as of today, even before the ‘equity crowdfunding’ campaign becomes available to the general public, the company has already raised more than $1 million from their customers — both backers as well as creators.
Maybe this should’ve been unsurprising. BackerKit’s track record is impressive: paying out more than $650 million to creators, managing more than $3.7 billion in pledges, and serving 15 million backers. It’s consistently built solid products, innovated with new features, and listened to customers on issues like generative AI. But the investment comes with its own complexities, risks, and small print. And the drive arrives in the midst of extreme economic uncertainty for the tabletop industry as well as widespread lack of faith in the stability of tech platforms. And then last week, we learned that one of BackerKit’s investors, Sahil Lavingia, worked for DOGE.
Let’s try and lay it all out.
